From ‘Historic Blunder’ to Historic Redemption

One of the most enduring political myths peddled quite vigorously by the mainstream media in recent years has been the juxtaposition of a ‘hardliner headquarter’ in the CPI(M) to a ‘reformist’ Left Front Government of West Bengal. The marketability of the myth grew considerably in the wake of the 1996 refusal of the CPI(M) Central Committee to accept VP Singh’s idea that Jyoti Basu should head the Congress-backed United Front government, a refusal that was openly termed a historic blunder by Jyoti Basu himself. The refusal appeared all the more significant as HKS Surjeet, the then General Secretary of the CPI(M), was also known to be on Jyoti Basu’s side. Naturally, when Surjeet handed over the baton to Prakash Karat, the man credited to be the chief architect of the historic blunder, the myth ballooned to still bigger proportions.
The balloon has however begun to deflate ever since the CPI(M) embarked on its present course of political collaboration with the Congress. Where exactly does the CPI(M) stand today vis-a-vis the UPA government? After Yechuri’s rhetoric describing the CPI(M) as a watchdog capable of not only barking but also biting, and biting quite hard if necessary, we now have a more authentic account from Karat himself which describes not only the present situation but also provides an insight into how the party looks at its future role. The account has been published in the October 29 edition of the Indian Express – it contains answers that Karat provided to questions raised by Indian Express staffers when he joined them for lunch. Let us look at the big picture that emerges from the answers.
Asked about the Left’s experience supporting a Congress-led government at the Centre, Karat begins with the clear statement “Right now we are in a position where the Left is new to being in government at the Centre” (emphasis ours). The prolonged deceptive rhetoric of critical, conditional, outside support has finally given way to a candid admission that the CPI(M) is now in government at the Centre. Even though new in the business of running governments at the Centre, the CPI(M) is learning quite quickly. Karat cites the example of the coordination committee. To quote his words, “We asked for it. It is a political arrangement through which we try to sort out our differences. Our experience over the past two years tells us that we should not pull out of this arrangement.” So the CPI(M)-Congress differences are being sorted out quite amicably and surely more or less to the satisfaction of the CPI(M)? How many differences are still left to be sorted out, comrade?
Regarding the 1996 ‘historic blunder’, Karat says that the decision not to join the government “seemed the right thing to do then.” We all know the distance the CPI(M) has travelled since then in terms of its party programme. The doors are now programmatically open for participation in bourgeois governments at the Centre. The bottom line is the CPI(M) “must be able to shape policies in government”; and so once the CPI(M) can “agree with the Congress on a policy platform, we are ready to work together.” The way things are moving in West Bengal and the speed with which differences are being sorted out with the Congress, a mutually agreed policy platform may indeed emerge pretty soon. In fact, can’t the present CMP serve as a jolly good policy platform to begin with?
So, from Kolkata to New Delhi the CPI(M) seems to be envisioning a dedicated corridor of power for itself. But the party continues to be dogged by its biggest nagging problem – its inability to make any headway in the vast Hindi-speaking areas surrounding this corridor. Karat has no hesitation in admitting that the CPI and CPI(M) have declined in the Hindi belt since 1978. The cut-off year is quite significant, the year that marks the beginning of the consolidation of the CPI(M) in West Bengal following its victory first in the Assembly elections and then in the panchayat elections. That was also the year when the CPI(M) held its now forgotten Salkia Plenum with a call to spread out in the Hindi belt with the message of its advance in West Bengal.
Karat would however not like to remember that, let alone explain the paradox for us. Nor can he be expected to acknowledge the fact that while the CPI(M) has failed miserably in its mission in the Hindi belt in the last three decades, and the CPI has suffered a steady decline, it is precisely during this period that the CPI(ML) has made its presence felt in the Hindi belt, especially in Bihar and Jharkhand, and increasingly also in Uttar Pradesh, as the growing and biggest communist party of the region.
What then is Karat’s new recipe for growth? He has a clear answer: “Caste is one of the social issues we haven’t traditionally debated. The test for us is to do that and see if we can expand in this period or not. ... All parties are trying to build caste alliances” He does not however tell us what sort of a caste alliance he has in mind and how he plans to find the social space for his caste alliance when he says that caste fragmentation has already gone further ahead in Uttar Pradesh compared to Bihar. Asked if any soul-searching is going on in the CPI(M), Karat says, “We are having a dialogue with everyone. We are talking to the Church in Kerala. ... And our party has come out with much more nuanced positions on a number of issues, the nuclear issue, for example.” The much more nuanced position on the nuclear issue is of course only a euphemism for the CPI(M)’s eventual endorsement of the US-India nuclear deal!
The script is sure to unfold with more interesting details in the coming months. Stay tuned.

ACTIVITIES

All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Condemns Repression of Gharsana Farmers

The National Convening body of All India Kisan Sangharsh Samiti met in Jhunjhunu on 26-28 October. Peasant leaders from six states participated in the meeting. The meeting expressed grave concern over the continuing spate of suicides in Vidarbha and other parts of the country and condemned the Congress-led governments in centre as well as in Maharashtra. The new agricultural policy was severely criticised for the dismal state of affairs in the rural India. The meeting strongly condemned the forcible acquisition of farmers’ agricultural lands for the Special Economic Zones and termed it anti-farmer and demanded the scrapping of the state policy. The meeting severely opposed the recent acquisitions by various state governments using money and muscle power against peasants and adivasis to serve the interests of big corporate houses at Singur (Bengal), Dadri (U.P.), Jhajjhar (Haryana), Chattisgarh and in other states.
AIKSS analysed the reports from different states and felt that the policies of the central and state governments had made agriculture unprofitable drowning peasants neck deep in debt. Peasants are in the grip of private moneylenders as well as banks and other institutions. The burden of this agricultural crisis is felt most acutely by the small farmers, agricultural labourers and small share croppers (bataidari).
The meeting decided to organise small and marginal peasants, share-croppers, allottees, etc. and to carry out a membership campaign in all the states. It was also decided to observe 27 December as “Save lands - Save peasants, Oust imperialism, and Save the Country Day”.
It was decided in the meeting to send a central team to Gharsana. AIKSS will also send a team to Vidarbha region of Maharashtra which has been turned into a graveyard of cotton farmers.
The Convening body paid its tributes to Ashok Patel and Ajit Patel, the martyred peasant leaders from Bihar, Chandu Ram, a peasant who succumbed to police bullets in Rajasthan, and thousands of peasants who committed suicide as well as innumerable number of rural poor, adivasis and workers who died of starvation. The meeting was presided over by AIKSS Convener Rajaram Singh.
A Kisan Mahapanchayat was organised by the Rajasthan Kisan Sangathan at the district Collectorate in Jhunjhunu on October 28, after the meeting, to press for the long pending demand of providing electricity to the farmers of the region. This was addressed by Rajaram Singh, Ruldu Singh, Sivsagar Sharma, Prem Singh, Ramchandra Kulhari and others.

AIKSS Team Visits Gharsana

The AIKSS central team visited Gharsana in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan on October 29 and expressed solidarity with the agitating farmers. The team comprised Rajaram Singh, Ruldu Singh, Prem Singh Gahalawat, Ishwari Prasad Kushwaha, Ramchandra Kulhari, Phoolchand Dheba and Gurnam Singh. The team condemned police repression and paid its tributes to the martyr peasant Chandu Ram. The team participated in the march organized by struggling farmers along with the body of Chandu Ram towards the area where curfew was imposed. Kisan Sangharsh Samiti’s Convener and President of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha Raja Ram Singh and Punjab Kisan Union President Ruldu Singh Mansa addressed the meeting organised at the conclusion of the march. Severe repression, deployment of military and imposition of curfew by the BJP Govt. of Vasundhara Raje, to suppress the peasants’ movement in Gharsana, was vehemently condemned by these leaders and use of army was termed a barbarity and anti-national act of the government.
The team observed that the government has reduced the water supply to Gharsana, Raysa and some other regions from Indira Gandhi canal after commissioning of its phase II which has reduced agricultural production in the region manifold and has pushed peasants to the brink of penury. The water level in these areas has fallen drastically. The supply of cotton bales to the local mandi has now come down to only a few thousands. These peasants had developed their lands, after commissioning of the said canal, through their hard labour but now they are left without any option. This has also adversely affected lives of toiling masses and has caused migration of agrarian workers on a large scale towards other states. The peasants of this region are victims of ‘water politics’ of both Congress and BJP which is backed by big landlords of Rajasthan who have acquired thousands of hectares of lands in Jaisalmer region where phase II of the canal carries water for irrigation. The Rajasthan government is working under the pressure of this big-landlord lobby, hence rendering the peasants of Shriganganagar and adjoining areas waterless. The AIKSS has demanded a quick and permanent solution of this region’s water problem.
Congress and BJP both are answerable for the water problems there.
It may be recalled that the peasants had also agitated on the same issue during last season and at the same place and their militant movement was forcibly repressed by the government. Five peasants lost their lives in the police firing at that time.

In the Shadow of the Agrarian Crisis ...

Amidst mounting suicides by farmers, the deepening agrarian crisis has now become an undeniable reality even in official discourse regarding agriculture. For example, the shadow of the crisis could be seen clearly at the interaction held last week in New Delhi between the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) and Deans and Vice-Chancellors of agriculture universities. According to a report published in The Hindu (Delhi edition, October 29, 2006), “as the meeting progressed, and speaker after speaker gave a candid description of what was wrong with Indian agriculture, a pall of gloom descended on the gathering.” The academics questioned the declining share of agriculture in Union Budget and insisted on greater public investment for the basic infrastructure and irrigation for small and marginal farmers. CR Hazra of Indira Gandhi Agriculture University of Chhattisgarh pointed out that the small and marginal farmers in his state were becoming landless as big farmers from Punjab and Haryana were buying off their land. The proportion of BPL population in the state has accordingly gone up from 38% to 44% over the last ten years.
Dr. MS Swaminathan, chairman of the NCF called upon the universities to whip up optimism on the agrarian front. His advice to students was to become entrepreneurs and service providers for the farmers. He had however no answer to the basic question as to how agriculture universities could generate optimism when the policies of the government were relentlessly driving farmers to suicide and the rural poor to starvation. “How can a mere 0.67 per cent of students graduating out of agriculture and veterinary universities change the lot of 65 per cent people engaged in farming in the country?” asked MC Varshnya from Anand in Gujarat.

National Steel Workers' Federation Launched

On 29 October, representatives from CSW, Bokaro, Ispat Labour Union, Rourkela and CSW, Bhilai came together in a convention held in Rourkela to have in depth discussion about the state of affairs in the steel sector, particularly in SAIL. During the discussion, the following points emerged:
1) Though the steel industry is growing at a fast pace, Manmohan govt. is systematically weakening the SAIL and giving encouragement to corporate houses like POSCO, Mittal, Jindal and Tata by providing cheap land and other facilities and conspiring to hand over precious minerals like iron ore over to the corporate multinationals.
2) The Govt. is encouraging the employment of contractual labourers on a massive scale while downsizing the regular employees.
3) The recent directive for PSU wage negotiation for 10-year wage agreement and not increasing the labour cost amounts to further downsizing of workforce.
The convention felt that present federation in NJCS had failed to articulate the issues arising out of new situations and the resentment and disillusion is precipitating in anger among the steel workers. Even they failed to resist the blatant curbing of trade union rights and union activities.
In this situation, the convention decided to form a National Steel Workers Federation with the aim of intensifying the workers' resistance against anti-working class policies of the government. The Federation will fight for the defence of Trade Union rights, for a 5-year wage agreement and against the black directives of the cabinet with regard to the PSU wage settlement. The new federation expresses solidarity with fighting tribals and peasants against evictions and will fight for inclusion of contract labourers in the NJCS as steel workers. The new federation will always fight for strengthening the SAIL and will not allow national minerals and lands to be handed over to MNCs.
The convention elected a 13-member Committee with Comrade N. K. Mohanty as President, Comrade K. V. Prasad and Comrade Kedar Pradhan as Vice-Presidents, Comrade D. S. Diwakar as General Secretary and Comrade Brijendra Tiwari as Treasurer. The Convention was presided over by Comrades N. K. Mohanty, D. S. Diwakar and Brajendra Tiwari and inaugural speech was delivered by AICCTU General Secretary Swapan Mukherjee. D. P. Buxi, Polit Bureau Member of CPI(ML) and Radha Kanta Shetty, Orissa State Committee Member of CPI(ML) and Ex-MLA also attended and addressed the convention. The convention called upon to initiate massive campaign for the success of the 14 December All India Strike in the Steel Sector.

Protest against Police Firing in Ara

Police opened fire indiscriminately on the residents of Jawahar Tola in Ara in the night of 11 October for the 'crime' that some residents of the tola went into an argument with local policemen who were letting a tractor driver to escape after an accident. The residents tried to catch the erring driver, the policemen on duty sided with the latter. Residents questioned this police act as that particular road is considered to be an accident prone zone. But the police, in return, raised lathis and used abusive language. Even then residents peacefully went back to their homes. But the police did not stop here, it wanted to teach a lesson to those who dared to question it. Nearly fifty police jawans entered the tola in the night and started beating everyone present in the streets. This sudden attack led some people to protest, resulting in an indiscriminate police firing which was stopped only after one youth, Chandan Kumar, was seriously injured by a bullet. Later, a police officer met the family members of Chandan and offered a sum of Rs. 1000 which was refused by the people.
This incident is an example of government's policy of maintaining terror to prevent masses from raising their genuine democratic aspirations. This is also a glaring example of true face of Nitish Kumar's 'good governance'. While the injured was operated in PMCH in Patna and the police bullet was removed from his body, the SP gave a statement that the bullet was fired by some 'miscreants'. Forensic experts can easily find out the gun which fired that bullet. But the police is trying to save its men and, hence, has named many local people in the FIR and termed the whole incident as a result of criminal tension in the area. This police attitude is a common phenomenon in Bihar and it needs to be opposed through popular mass resistance. The CPI(ML) has launched an agitation against the above incident and has demanded to punish the involved policemen and to withdraw the false cases imposed against the common people of Jawahar tola.

Demonstration against Blood Kit Scam in Kolkata

A big scam involving supply of spurious blood test kits to government and private blood banks has been unearthed in West Bengal. Supplied by the Monozyme India Ltd, these kits have already caused diseases like AIDS to many patients including children. The lives of hundreds of others who received blood ‘tested’ and ‘approved’ with these kits are under threat. Workers’, women’s’, students’ and youth organisations associated with the Party organised a militant demonstration in front of Bankshal Court, Kolkata, denouncing Govind Sarda, Managing Director of Monozyme India Ltd. They also demanded the resignation of the health minister Suryakanta Mishra, drastic punitive action against all who were involved in the scam and immediate steps to eliminate the unholy nexus of private suppliers, top government officials and blood bank authorities responsible for all this.

Inquiry Demanded into Incident of Rape and Murder

In Madhepura, a gruesome incident of rape and murder of a women took place on October 26 when Gita Devi, wife of Anandi Paswan, a rickshaw-puller, was brutally murdered after rape. A CPI(ML) investigation team led by Pankaj Singh visited the spot and found that the police is not taking any fruitful action. Although a suspect has been identified by the neighbours of the victim. Party's Madhepura unit has demanded an inquiry and immediate action to nab the culprit

RYA to Organise a March to Singur

The Revolutionary Youth Association is going to hold its national council meeting at Konnagar in Hooghly district of West Bengal. After the meet it will organise a march to Singur to interact with the struggling peasants there. Meanwhile the Party’s Hooghly district committee and different mass organisations are continuing political propaganda in and around Singur to oppose land acquisition by state government for Tata Motors plant.

Obituary

Comrade Satyendra Singh

CPI(ML) condoles the sad passing away of Comrade Satyendra Singh who prematurely died of liver cancer on 25 October, 2006. Comrade Satyendra, a hard working and dedicated cadre, was the District Committee member in Ara. Born in a middle peasant family in Kurkuri village on 27 November, 1962, he earned his M.A. Degree from Magadh University and B.ED. from Gorakhpur University. Instead of pursuing a career, he chose to devote his life for the people’s struggles. He came in contact with the party in 1989 and became a wholetime worker in 1991. He wholeheartedly served the Party and the people throughout his life.
He never compromised with the communist principles and the class struggle and faced severe police torture, jail, and had his property confiscated. But none of these difficulties could distract him from the path of struggle, or could weaken his resolve. CPI(ML) pays tributes to Comrade Satyendra and sends condolences to the members of his family. We pledge to march ahead to fulfill his cherished dream. A condolence meeting will be organised in his native village Kurkuri and his statue will be unveiled by Comrade Ramnaresh Ram, Polit Bureau member of CPI(ML), on this occasion.